Guwahati, March 9: Akhil Gogoi, chief of Raijor Dal and MLA from Sivasagar Assembly constituency, has alleged that the refusal of Gaurav Gogoi and Rakibul Hussain to leave the Dhing Assembly constituency for his party led to the breakdown of alliance discussions with the Indian National Congress ahead of the 2026 Assam Legislative Assembly election.
Speaking to reporters, Gogoi claimed that during seat-sharing negotiations Congress had offered Raijor Dal only a limited number of constituencies of its preference despite repeated discussions.
According to Raijor Dal, Congress eventually offered the party 13 seats through its four-member negotiation committee. Of these, the party said only four were constituencies of its own choice, while four were proposed as “friendly contests” and five were constituencies suggested by Congress.
Gogoi said that among the nine seats largely controlled by Congress, Raijor Dal managed to secure only four constituencies of its preference, while the remaining five were Congress seats that the party expected Raijor Dal to support as part of a friendly arrangement.
He added that one of the seats Raijor Dal strongly wanted to contest was the Dhing constituency. “If Congress had given us Dhing, we were ready to fight the upcoming Assembly elections together with them,” Gogoi said.
However, he alleged that despite some leaders informally agreeing to the arrangement, Gaurav Gogoi and Rakibul Hussain refused to concede the seat. “Although others agreed to let it go, Gaurav Gogoi and Rakibul Hussain did not give us the Dhing Assembly constituency. Because of their arrogance, the alliance broke,” he claimed.
Following the collapse of talks, both parties are set to face each other in the constituency. Raijor Dal has fielded Rahul Chetry from Margherita, while the Congress has nominated Prateek Bordoloi.
Chetry has criticised Bordoloi’s candidature, describing him as a “parachute candidate” with little connection to the ground realities of the constituency. The dispute has highlighted widening divisions within the opposition space in Assam, where attempts to build a united front against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have often been complicated by disagreements over seat-sharing and local political dynamics.
